Kit: A Brief History of How Athletic Clothing Became Leisurewear

Images courtesy of the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York

​Introduction
People have always had to wear clothing that was dictated by their work, be it the agricultural worker whose garments had to protect them from the elements, or the monarch in ceremonial attire, designed to convey high status and good taste. But what about leisurewear? Historians of leisure often find the choices that people make when they are not at work, that is when they can choose to do in their own free time, more interesting than other topics. Choosing what is worn in leisure is part of that bigger topic. Some people like to look ‘sporty’ and the latest catwalk trends of the big brands have reflected what is now called Sports Luxe, as, for example trainers are now both available as highly collectible limited edition items, and branded by fashion’s big names and running to several hundred pounds per pair, for say Gucci, Valentino or McQueen. So popular are comfortable sports clothing trends now that many people wear outfits influenced by sports clothing. But how, historically did those trends come about?

Athletic wear and the nineteenth century
As more people moved into towns and cities, the growing middle class appropriated the rural clothing of aristocrats as part of a leisure look. More working class men relied upon moleskin trousers and Norfolk jackets. About town, wearing Tweeds was a way of embodying the landscape. Many of those who went to public schools wore caps and colours that they continued to promote as ‘Old Boys’. The bookish ‘aesthetic type’ looked very different from the athlete. The healthy body was a metaphor for good breeding, and embodied the figure of the athletic hero & chivalric codes.

Many of the newly codified sports, included a uniform and prescriptive regulations about what may and may not be worn, often adapted from the military. Club uniforms acted as sign of belonging and signified that the member was not part of the 'great unattached'. Eventually these club badges became brands and dressmakers and tailors realised they could multiply trade by becoming ‘club tailors’. By the 1890s a specialist ‘sports goods’ manufacturing industry had been mechanised and sold widely, and sports clothing became gradually worn as a sign that the person had leisure, even when not actively pursuing a particular sporting goal.

So even by the end of the nineteenth century, wearing tennis shoes in the street had become an indicator of a fashionable and modern outlook, a statement that the person could afford more than one pair of shoes, and liked a generally less formal approach to dress.  These trends would accelerate across the twentieth century as sport and leisure became more widely available, and the Norfolk jacket would become a sports jacket, and, for women, hemlines gradually rose in line with the freedom to move.

Images courtesy of the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York

Sportswear and Heritage Brands
What few people realize today, even when wearing the sporting heritage brands that are associated with Britain, is that many began to trade as a result of that most British of conversation pieces: what to wear to cope with the British weather? Many British clothing and sports brands began to diversify in tailor-made designs at the luxury end of the market and selling cheaper ready-to wear to the expanding middle classes. After trade-marking a shower-proof textile in 1853, the company of John Emery became ‘Aqua-scutum’, the Latin for water- shield, following which its wrappers and coats became modish for the urban elite but also for field sports and angling. Thomas Burberry formed his eponymous company as a 21-year-old Hampshire tailor in 1856, launching a stylish gabardine fabric in 1880 and registering his brand logo as a trademark in 1900. Slazenger began to trade as a rainwear business in Manchester in 1881, moved to London, and trademarked its lawn tennis rackets and balls, which gained added international status by becoming standard equipment at Wimbledon championships. Pringle of Scotland, formed by Robert Pringle in 1815 as a hosiery and underwear manufacturer, moved into cashmere in the 1870s and became the celebrity golf-wear of choice from then on.

The British were by no means alone. In France, the Hermès fashion house was founded as a harness shop by an innkeeper’s son, Thierry Hermès, who hand-sewed equestrian products using two needles working in tensile resistance to create a saddle stitch that was virtually indestructible. This technological advance created an elite following, including Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and Napoleon III, who commissioned bespoke saddles and harnesses. Twentieth-century style icons such as Jackie Onassis went on to make the Hermès Constance bag part of an haute couture wardrobe. 

Hermès brand heritage as a manufacturer of sporting and luxury goods is signalled both in the production of custom-made saddles and related sporting goods (ranging from £4,000 upwards) to silk scarves that Queen Elizabeth II has favoured since a young woman. The Galop Chromatique, the monarch’s preferred style of scarf, currently retails at £280. Watches, perfumes, goods for the home and other brand diversification still bear the tagline ‘A Sporting Life!’.

Conclusion
Although the scale and range of Sports Luxe now encompasses several heritage brands and a range of price points, there are long historical precedents and many brands began with technological innovations that improved the leisure experience of the wearer. We are used to such innovations and expect both our work and leisure wear, as well as high performance sporting goods to help our performance whether worn in formal or informal situations. Enjoy your kit!

Images courtesy of the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York